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Davetta vs David

American parents have registered 3,689,613 Davids since 1880, against 543 Davettas. David is still ahead, with 6,801 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Davetta against David, 1880 to 2025 0 25k 50k 75k 100k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Davetta David

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

David has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1972, when Davetta had 23 and David had 46,559.

Side by side

  Davetta David
Total US births 5433,689,613
Most in one year 2386,454
Babies in 2025 under 56,801
Estimated living today 4702.7 million
Median age today 5456
Peak year 19721955
Best rank 2,903rd girls2nd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked35th
First recorded 19321880
Girls / boys 543 / 012,959 / 3,676,654

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Davids alive today are over 56; half the Davettas are over 54. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Davetta and David.